Ferrari are furious with the FIA after their latest failed protest against Red Bull in a string of calls which have gone against them this season.
The most recent came last time out at the Monaco Grand Prix, where the Italian team felt Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez should have been penalised for touching the painted line at the pit lane exit. But a recent change to the International Sporting Code now allows that, as long as a wheel does not cross the line.
So Ferrari's official protest was rejected, but team principal Mattia Binotto feels that was the wrong call. Asked about his opinion on the matter ahead of this weekend's race in Azerbaijan, he said: "This one is one of the decisions which we are not happy with.
"When we made the protest, we knew what would be the outcome. But it was right for us to protest just to show that we were not in agreement with the decision at the time. And still, we believe it was not the right decision. As a matter of fact, they needed to change the race director's notes here in Baku, they had to change the pit entry."
Insisting that such protests are not personal attack on Ferrari's Red Bull rivals, Binotto added: "It is a fair fight between the two teams at the moment and I am happy to move on with the fair fight. It was more for us to show the FIA at the moment that we are not happy with the type of decisions that they are taking."
The FIA is in a period of transition when it comes to those in charge of races each weekend, after the sacking of previous race director Michael Masi during the off-season. Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas now share the role, but they are inexperienced – even with the help of veteran adviser Herbie Blash.
Binotto called for patience and for the new directors to be given time to find their feet, but still bemoaned what he feels are some erratic decisions. "It is certainly not an easy job," the Italian conceded. "These guys need some more experience. It is not something that you learn from the very first race.
"If you look at the start of the season, certainly as Ferrari, we cannot be happy at the way we often have been disadvantaged by decisions, but that is the way it is. We understand the difficulty. I think in order to make them improve, we need to help them as well. We need collaboration between the teams and the race directors to make sure that they understand and improve as fast as possible.
"No doubt, so far in the season, there was no consistency in decisions. I think we cannot deny that, as we cannot deny it is not an easy job."
